Orange pips

The moths have gently rebuked me for my rather grumpy observation in my last post that most of the arrivals at this time of the year are brown or grey. That is strictly true but just look at these exceptions which came the night before last: first of all, the delightful. bright orange-flecked Large Ranunculus.

This specimen is a lot lighter than the others I've seen previously, not that it is a common visitor. It came here in 2013 and 205 and never called when we lived in Leeds; it is classified as only locally found. Richard Lewington's painting of it in the Moth Bible , pictured left, shows a much less vivid example as do most online sites.

Its name comes from the buttercup family of plants, oddly as its diet is catholic and includes almost everything herbaceous. I like it so much that I made a composite picture for your delectation, here:

Continuing the orange theme, another resident of the eggboxes was this Orange Sallow in the first two pictures below, one of a large family of yellowy-orange moths which lighten up this time of the year. The third picture shows another of the seven species, the Sallow, whose colouring resembles the top of a creme brulee. Yum! . Below it is a Green-brindled Crescent, another bright spark whose browny-grey background is illuminated by the central area of metallic green wing scales.

I also had another Old Lady visit, the third in a fortnight, and a lively Copper Underwing, shown below. Meanwhile Penny the Ace Indoor Insect Spotter found these sad but interesting remains of a large dragonfly on the back folds of one of our dining room curtains.